Why did Little Bricett St. Lawrence church and indeed the village disappear ??? The story goes like this..................
Not far across the fields, but inaccessible by road except by a round about route, is the parish church of Great Bricett, (Cache Listing GC2FNDC). In the Middle Ages, that was part of a Benedictine Priory, an alien cell to the community at St Leonard, Limoges, France, so it's probable that many of the local inhabitants came to the parish church here at Little Bricett. But the alien cells were given their independence during the wars of the early 15th century, and many of them became parish churches. That sounded the death-knell for remote little churches like this one at Little Bricett, for the Great Bricett Priory church was in the heart of the populated area.
St. Lawrence was a Vicarage of Thetford Priory, and these were never popular with the 16th century reformers. In fact, the living here was consolidated with that of neighbouring Offton as early as 1506, a good thirty years before the first hammerblows of the Reformation. The building would have survived for a while, and may even have remained in use, but the trauma and neglect of the next three centuries meant that it never really stood a chance, and no trace survives of it today. In the years after the Reformation, the parish was subsumed into that of Offton, but the dedication survives as part of the modern dedication of Great Bricett.
The site of St Lawrence, Little Bricett, is accessible on foot along a public footpath to Tollemache Hall from the B1078 Needham Market to Bildeston road, on the left, just before the right turn to Great Bricett . Alternatively, you can get pretty close by car off of the Offton to Ringshall road
The above text contains excerpts from Simon Knott's excellent website www.suffolkchurches.co.uk , with grateful thanks.
If anyone would like to expand this Church Micro numbered series please do. Please contact sadexploration via www.geocaching.com so that he can keep track of the church numbers and names to avoid duplication.